Nissanka 89 cuts down SL deficit after Verreynne 105*
Afternoon and evening sessions belonged to Sri Lanka with their top four producing best collective effort
Kyle Verreynne took only 37 balls to move from fifty to hundred, South Africa vs Sri Lanka, 2nd TeST
Sri Lanka 242 for 3 (Nissanka 89, Mathews 40*) trail South Africa 358 (Verreynne 105*, Rickelton 101, Bavuma 78, Kumara 4-79) by 116 runs
Kyle Verreynne’s manic sprint to a third Test century lit up the second morning and sent South Africa speeding to a total of 358. But the afternoon and evening sessions belonged to Sri Lanka. Their top four produced their best collective effort in the series so far, with Pathum Nissanka hitting 89 off 157 balls, forging a 109-run second wicket stand with Dinesh Chandimal.
With Angelo Mathews not out on 40 at stumps, and Kamindu Mendis unbeaten on 30, Sri Lanka have seven wickets in hand, and are well-placed to take a lead in the first innings. They have for the first time in the series, put serious pressure on a South Africa attack that seemed short of options on a flattening Gqeberha deck.
Kagiso Rabada was the most menacing of their bowlers, conceding only 40 and taking the wicket of Dimuth Karunaratne for the third time in the series, in his 15 overs. He’d also had Nissanka dropped by David Bedingham at second slip, on 22. Sri Lanka negotiated Marco Jansen with much more confidence than they had in the first Test, in which he’d claimed 11 wickets. By stumps, Jansen had given away 75 off his 18 overs, and was the only frontline bowler without a wicket.
Though there were occasional plays and misses against Rabada in particular, Nissanka was largely watchful, scoring only eight runs off his first 50 deliveries. He eventually began to attack the shorter deliveries, and it was the pull shot that he favoured through the remainder of the innings, taking to Jansen’s shorter balls in particular. Most of his run-scoring came square of the wicket, and he raised his batting tempo in Chandimal’s company, settling into accumulation mode against the spin of Keshav Maharaj in particular.
That he got out to Maharaj, whom he had early clubbed for six over deep midwicket, will particularly rankle, especially as he was nearing a century. He merely ran at the bowler, attempted a cross-batted shot to a ball that was full, and essentially yorked himself, the ball going on to clatter into leg stump.
Pathum Nissanka brought up his ninth 50+ score in Tests
Still, the stand between him and Chandimal had provided Sri Lanka a platform. Chandimal was looser with his strokeplay than either opener had been, and collected edged fours behind the wicket early on. He nevertheless stuck at it alongside Nissanka, until a tentative prod against Dane Paterson ended with him being snaffled behind the stumps.
Mathews was also somewhat tetchy at the beginning of his innings, but found some boundaries down the ground, and settled into a rhythm later. Kamindu Mendis appeared assured from the outset. The two put on 43 runs together before stumps.
The morning, however, had been reigned by Verreynne. Having lost Keshav Maharaj without South Africa adding to their overnight score, Verreynne put on 66 with Rabada, as Sri Lanka turned almost solely to bouncers and short deliveries to blast the final two wickets out. Verreynne crashed three boundaries between deep backward square leg and deep midwicket in one Asitha Fernando over to really get his engine roaring, before venturing even bigger hits when Rabada was bowled by Asitha, and he was left with the No. 11 for company.
With 19 runs still to get for his hundred, Verreynne yanked the throttle with even more intensity, first smashing Prabath Jayasuriya over cow corner for six, before mowing Asitha into the banks to get within one strike of a 100. He reached triple figures with another mighty pull in that same over, sending the ball sailing over fine leg’s head.
The milestone sparked wild celebrations, a bow from Verreynne to the dressing room, and a bear-hug from Paterson. Verreynne himself likely did not anticipate that a century would be on the cards when the morning’s play began, but finished unbeaten on 105 off 133 balls, having reaped 58 off 50 balls on day two.
Lahiru Kumara claimed the last South Africa wicket, and ended with 4 for 79. Asitha and Vishwa Fernando shared five wickets between them.
South Africa 1st Innings
Batting R B M 4s 6s SR
Aiden Markram
b Kumara
20 35 55 4 0 57.14
Tony de Zorzi
lbw b AM Fernando
0 1 6 0 0 0.00
Ryan Rickelton
c Nissanka b Kumara
101 250 361 11 0 40.40
Tristan Stubbs
c †BKG Mendis b Kumara
4 18 16 0 0 22.22
Temba Bavuma (c)
c †BKG Mendis b AM Fernando
78 109 152 8 1 71.55
David Bedingham
b Jayasuriya
6 19 26 0 0 31.57
Kyle Verreynne †
not out 105 133 202 12 3 78.94
Marco Jansen
b MVT Fernando
4 5 6 1 0 80.00
Keshav Maharaj
c Karunaratne b MVT Fernando
0 4 8 0 0 0.00
Kagiso Rabada
b AM Fernando
23 40 60 5 0 57.50
Dane Paterson
c PHKD Mendis b Kumara
9 10 14 2 0 90.00
Extras (b 1, lb 1, nb 2, w 4) 8
Total
103.4 Ov
(RR: 3.45)
358
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Tony de Zorzi, 1.1 ov), 2-32 (Aiden Markram, 11.2 ov), 3-44 (Tristan Stubbs, 15.4 ov), 4-177 (Temba Bavuma, 52.6 ov), 5-186 (David Bedingham, 59.2 ov), 6-263 (Ryan Rickelton, 85.3 ov), 7-269 (Marco Jansen, 86.3 ov), 8-269 (Keshav Maharaj, 88.1 ov), 9-325 (Kagiso Rabada, 100.5 ov), 10-358 (Dane Paterson, 103.4 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON WD NB
Vishwa Fernando
22 6 65
2
2.95 0 0
Asitha Fernando
24 2 102
3
4.25 3 0
Lahiru Kumara
17.4 3 79
4
4.47 1 2
Prabath Jayasuriya
31 4 84
1
2.70 0 0
Dhananjaya de Silva
9 1 26 0 2.88 0 0
Sri Lanka 1st Innings
Batting R B 4s 6s SR
Pathum Nissanka
b Maharaj
89 157 11 1 56.68
Dimuth Karunaratne
c †Verreynne b Rabada
20 43 4 0 46.51
Dinesh Chandimal
c †Verreynne b Paterson
44 97 5 0 45.36
Angelo Mathews
not out 40 71 6 0 56.33
Kamindu Mendis
not out 30 38 3 0 78.94
Extras (b 12, lb 3, nb 4) 19
Total
67 Ov
(RR: 3.61)
242/3
Yet to bat:
Dhananjaya de Silva (c),
Kusal Mendis †,
Prabath Jayasuriya,
Asitha Fernando,
Lahiru Kumara,
Vishwa Fernando
Fall of wickets: 1-41 (Dimuth Karunaratne, 15.4 ov), 2-150 (Dinesh Chandimal, 44.2 ov), 3-199 (Pathum Nissanka, 55.2 ov) •
DRS
Bowling O M R W ECON WD NB
Kagiso Rabada
15 5 40
1
2.66 0 0
Marco Jansen
18 2 75 0 4.16 0 0
Dane Paterson
15 3 51
1
3.40 0 4
Keshav Maharaj
15 1 46
1
3.06 0 0
Aiden Markram
4 0 15 0 3.75 0 0
Close of Play